XIII – Phoenix

After being betrayed by Jones (Aisha Tyler) and loosing the weapon he fought so hard to obtain, XIII (Stuart Townsend) goes into hiding in the show’s Season Two premiere. After being shot and left for dead on the bridge XIII lays low, hiding out in a peaceful Occupy-style rally, but when the members are brutally assaulted by the local police force XIII intercedes to save one of the protesters, Betty Barnowsky (Roxane Mesquida) who introduces her protector to the head of the protesters known as The Veil, a man named Vargas (Bruce Ramsay) in need of someone with XIII’s skill set to take down a company known as Synequanon who is testing an ecological damaging weapon in Alaska.

Despite his initial reluctance, XIII allows Betty and Vargas to talk him into helping plan and execute an attack on the company’s local secured facility. Betty further ropes XIII into helping her with her brother (Ephraim Ellis), a cryptologist with a warning about the kinds of dangerous people The Veil are antagonizing. Although XIII is able to save Betty from the trap the company has set for them both, the young woman is watches her brother murdered with only the barest explanation of who is behind the shooting or why.

Unable to trust Betty or her motives, XIII leaves the group when he is abducted by a shadowy figure from his forgotten past only to awaken in a reconditioning chair. XIII returns to The Veil a day or so later sporting a new bloodthirsty attitude and a plan to bomb Synequanon headquarters who he has learned is now under the command of his former enemy Amos (Greg Bryk) who is meeting in secret negotiations with the company’s top competitor (Ho Chow) over ambitious global carbon emission reductions.

While Jones is enjoying her cushy new job as the Secretary of State, things aren’t as peachy for her boss. With re-election looming President Carrington (Stephen McHattie) finds himself falling further and further in the polls to the Republican nominee (Ingrid Kavelaars). On the President’s behalf Jones travels to Synequanon to mediate the negotiations and is in the building, along with Amos’ daughter, when XIII (or, to be more accurate, his evil doppelganger) explodes the bomb outside the factory. As the episode ends we see XIII still strapped in to the reconditioning chair as his double returns from a job well done.

The season premiere shows us a few faces in new places while giving our protagonist a new mission, to escape and find the man framing XIII for his crimes, while giving his old enemies plenty of reason to come after him. As to the identity of the second XIII and what the man’s end game is, we’ll just have to wait and see.